I love 3 D movies, I love the 3 D stuff Disney does. I was really looking forward to U2 3D. It has gotten rave reviews. Here, here and here and a whole lot of other places. (Which I didn’t read until after I got my thoughts down.)
I will never get close enough to see the wrinkles on Bono’s face and have the feeling that he is looking right at me. I will never get close enough to see the wrinkles in his palm as he reaches out toward me.
U2 3D made that possible. The rest of the 3D effects were hackneyed stuff that’s been done a kajillion times.
That’s what 3D does.
But don’t go to the movie expecting to have a concert experience. It takes the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd to get that done. The last live concert we went to was American Idol. No festival seating but they did allow a bunch to crowd the stage. If the IMAX theater would have been full, I might have believed that those fans that appeared to be standing and waving might have actually be live.
IMAX 3D sound delivered the gut thumping that you expect fromU2 music, but it didn’t hit you all over like a live concert. When the crowd reacts in a live concert, it gives me chills. That feeling is missing from the movie.
It was 90 minutes of U2 music – more than I will normally listen to, but I’m sure real U2 fans will eat it up.
Just don’t go expecting a concert experience. It was U2. It was 3D. It was a movie.
